One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering
about Oak Island, Nova Scotia when he came across a curious circular depression
in the ground. Standing over this depression was a tree whose branches
had been cut in a way which looked like it had been used as a pulley. Having
heard tales of pirates in the area he decided to return home to get friends
and return later to investigate the hole.

Over the next several days McGinnis, along with friends
John Smith and
Anthony Vaughan, worked the hole. What they found astonished them. Two
feet below the surface they came across of layer of flagstones covering
the pit. At 10 feet down they ran into a layer of oak logs spanning the
pit. Again at 20 feet and 30 feet they found the same thing, a layer of
logs. Not being able to continue alone from here, they went home, but with
plans of returning to search more.

It took the three discoverers 8 years, but they did return. Along with
The Onslow Company, formed for the purpose of the search, they began digging
again. They quickly got back to 30 foot point that had been reached 8 years
ago. They continued down to 90 feet, finding a layer of oak logs at every
10 foot interval. Besides the boards, at 40 feet a layer of charcoal was
found, at 50 feet a layer of putty, and at 60 feet a layer of coconut fiber.

At 90 feet one of the most puzzling clues was found - a stone inscribed
with mysterious writing.

After pulling up the layer of oak at 90 feet and continuing on, water
began to seep into the pit. By the next day the pit was filled with water
up to the 33 foot level. Pumping didn't work, so the next year a new pit
was dug parallel to the original down to 100 feet. From there a tunnel
was run over to The Money Pit. Again the water flooded in and the search
was abandoned for 45 years.

The Booby Trap

As it turns out, an ingenious booby trap had been sprung. The Onslow
Company had inadvertently unplugged a 500 foot waterway that had been dug
from the pit to nearby Smith's Cove by the pit's designers. As quickly
as the water could be pumped out it was refilled by the sea.

This discovery however is only a small part of the intricate plan by
the unknown designers to keep people away from the cache.

In 1849 the next company to attempt to extract the treasure, The Truro
Company, was founded and the search began again. They quickly dug down
to 86 feet only to be flooded. Deciding to try to figure out what was buried
before attempting to extract it, Truro switched to drilling core samples.
The drilling produced some encouraging results.

First Hints of Treasure

At 98 feet the drill went through a spruce platform. Then it encountered
4 inches of oak and then 22 inches of what was characterized as "metal
in pieces"; Next 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal,
4 inches of oak and another layer of spruce. The conclusion was that they
had drilled through 2 casks or chests filled will coins. Upon pulling out
the drill they found splinters of oak and strands of what looked like coconut
husk.

One account of the drilling also mentions that three small gold links,
as from a chain, were brought up. Unfortunately no one knows where they
have gone.

Interestingly, the earth encountered beneath the bottom spruce platform
was loose indicating that the pit may have gone even deeper. A later group
of searchers would find out how much deeper.

The Truro Company returned in 1850 with plans to dig another parallel
hole and then tunnel over to the Money Pit. Just like before, as they tunneled
over, water began to rush in. They brought in pumps to try to get rid of
the water but it was impossible to keep the water out. During the pumping
someone noticed that at Smith's Cove during low tide there was water coming
OUT of the beach.

This find lead to an amazing discovery - the beach was artificial.

Artificial Beach

It turns out that the pit designers had created a drain system, spread
over a 145 foot length of beach, which resembled the fingers of a hand.
Each finger was a channel dug into the clay under the beach and lined by
rocks. The channels were then filled with beach rocks, covered with several
inches of eel grass, and then covered by several more inches of coconut
fiber. The effect of this filtering system was that the channels remained
clear of silt and sand while water was still allowed to flow along them.
The fingers met at a point inland where they fed sea water into a sloping
channel which eventually joined the Money Pit some 500 feet away. Later
investigations showed this underground channel to have been 4 feet wide,
2 1/2 feet high, lined with stone, and meeting the Money Pit between the
depths of 95 to 110 feet.

To the Truro Company, the answer was now simple - just block off the
water flow from the beach and dig out the treasure. Their first attempt
was to build a dam just off the beach at Smith's Cove, drain the water,
and then dismantle the drain channels. Unfortunately a storm blew up and
destroyed the dam before they could finish.

An interesting note: the remains of an older dam were found when building
the new one.

The next plan was to dig a pit 100 feet or so inland in the hopes of
meeting with the water channel underground at which point they could plug
the channel. This scheme too failed. And this was the last attempt by the
Truro company to uncover the secrets of Oak Island.

The Pit's Collapse

The next attempt at securing the treasure was made in 1861 by the Oak
Island Association. First they cleared out the Money Pit down to 88 feet.
Then they ran a new hole to the east of the pit hoping to intercept the
channel from the sea. The new shaft was dug out to120 feet without hitting
the channel and then abandoned.

A second shaft was run, this one to west, down to 118 feet. They then
attempted to tunnel over to the Money Pit. Again the water started to enter
this pit as well as the Money Pit. Bailing was attempted and appeared to
work. And then.... CRASH!

The bottom fell out. Water rushed into the shafts and the bottom of
the Money Pit dropped over 15 feet. Everything in the Money Pit had fallen
farther down the hole. The big questions were why and how far?

Over the next several years different companies tried to crack the mystery
unsuccessfully. They dug more shafts, tried to fill in the drain on the
beach, built a new dam (which was destroyed by a storm), and drilled for
more core samples. They met with little success.

The Cave-in Pit

In 1893 a man named Fred Blair along with a group called The Oak Island
Treasure Company began their search. Their first task was to investigate
the "Cave-in Pit". Discovered in 1878 about 350 feet east of
the Money Pit, the cave-in pit appears to have been a shaft dug out by
the designers of the Money Pit perhaps as a ventilation shaft for the digging
of the flood tunnel. It apparently intersected or closely passed the flood
tunnel. While it was being cleared by the Treasure Company it started to
flood at a depth of 55 feet and was abandoned.

Over the next several years The Oak Island Treasure Company would dig
more shafts, pump more water, and still get nowhere. In 1897 they did manage
to clear out the Money Pit down to 111 feet where they actually saw the
entrance of the flood tunnel temporarily stopped up with rocks. However,
the water worked its way through again and filled the pit.

The treasure company then decided that they would attempt to seal off
the flow of water from Smith's Cove by dynamiting the flood tunnel. Five
charges were set off in holes drilled near the flood tunnel. They didn't
work. The water flowed into the Money Pit as rapidly as ever.

At the same time a new set of core samples were drilled at the pit itself.
The results were surprising.

Cement Vault

At 126 feet, wood was struck and then iron. This material is probably
part of the material that fell during the crash of the Pit. On other drillings
the wood was encountered at 122 feet and the iron was missed completely
indicating that the material may be laying in a haphazard way due to the
fall.

Between 130 and 151 feet and also between 160 and 171 feet a blue clay
was found which consisted of clay, sand, and water. This clay can be used
to form a watertight seal and is probably the same "putty"; that
was found at the 50 foot level of the Pit.

The major find was in the gap between the putty layers. A cement vault
was discovered. The vault itself was 7 feet high with 7 inch thick walls.
Inside the vault the drill first struck wood, then a void several inches
high and an unknown substance. Next a layer of soft metal was reached,
then almost 3 feet of metal pieces, and then more soft metal.

When the drill was brought back up another twist was added to the whole
mystery. Attached to the auger was a small piece of sheepskin parchment
with the letters "vi"; "ui"; or "wi"; What
the parchment is a part of is still in question.

More convinced than ever that a great treasure was beneath the island,
The Treasure Company began sinking more shafts in the attempts to get to
the cement vault. They all met with failure due to flooding.

2nd Flood Tunnel

In May of 1899, yet another startling discovery was made. There was
a second flood tunnel! This one was located in the South Shore Cove. The
designers had been more ingenious and had done more work than previously
thought. Though this find certainly strengthened the case that something
valuable was buried below it didn't bring anyone closer to actually finding
the treasure.

Blair and The Oak Island Treasure Company continued to sink new shafts
and drill more core samples, but no progress was made and no new information
obtained. Between 1900 and 1936 several attempts were made to obtain the treasure.
All met with no success.

Stone Fragment

In 1936 Gilbert Hadden, in conjunction with
Fred Blair, began a new
investigation of the island. Hadden cleared some of the earlier shafts
near the Pit and made plans for exploratory drilling the next summer. However,
he made two discoveries away from the Pit.

The
first was a fragment of a stone bearing inscriptions similar to those found
on the inscribed stone discovered at the 90 foot level of the Money Pit.
The second discovery was of several old timbers in Smith's Cove. These
timbers seem to have been from the original designers due to the fact that
they were joined using wooden pins rather than metal. As will be seen later
these timbers were only a small part of a much larger construction.

Mystery Deepens

The next treasure hunter was Erwin Hamilton. He began his search in
1938 by clearing out previous shafts and doing some exploratory drilling.
In 1939 during drilling two more discoveries were made. The first was the
finding of rocks and gravel at 190 feet. According to Hamilton they were
foreign and therefore placed there by someone. The second finding came
after clearing out an earlier shaft down to 176 feet. At this point a layer
of limestone was encountered and drilled through. The drilling brought
up oak splinters. Apparently there was wood BELOW the natural limestone.

Tragedy Strikes

In 1959 Bob Restall and his family began their attack on the island
which ultimately proved tragic. His one discovery was made on the Smith's Cove
beach while attempting to stop the drain system. He found a rock with "1704" inscribed
on it. Though others believed it was prank left by a previous search team, Restall believed it was from the time of the original construction.

In 1965 tragedy struck. While excavating a shaft Bob passed out and
fell into the water at the bottom. His son, Bobbie, attempted to rescue
him as did two of the workers. All four apparently were overcome by some
sort of gas, perhaps carbon monoxide from a generator, passed out and drowned.

Heavy Machines

Bob Dunfield was the next to take on the island. In 1965 he attempted
to solve the problem with heavy machinery - bulldozers and cranes. He attempted
to block the inflow of water at Smith's Cove, and may have succeeded. Then
on the south side of the island an trench was dug in the hope of intercepting
the other water tunnel and blocking it off. The flood tunnel wasn't found,
but an unknown refilled shaft was found, possible one dug by the designers
of the Pit. The shaft apparently went down to 45 and stopped, its purpose
is unknown.

Dunfield's other findings were based on drilling. It was determined
that at 140 feet there was a 2 foot thick layer of limestone and then a
forty foot void. At the bottom of the void was bedrock. This information
matched with a drilling done back in 1955. There seemed to a large, natural
underground cavern, something apparently common with limestone around the
world.

Recent Discoveries

Daniel Blankenship, the current searcher, began his quest in 1965. In
1966 he dug out more of the original shaft found by Bob Dunfield in 1965.
It turned out that the shaft did go beyond 45 feet. Blankenship found a
hand-wrought nail and a washer at 60 feet. At 90 feet he met a layer of
rocks in stagnant water. He assumed this was part of the south water tunnel
but couldn't explore further because the shaft could not be stopped from
caving in.

A pair of wrought-iron scissors were discovered in 1967 buried below
the drains at Smith's Cove. It was determined that the scissors were Spanish-American,
probably made in Mexico, and they were up to 300 years old. Also found
was a heart shaped stone.

Smith's Cove revealed some more secrets in 1970 to Triton Alliance,
a group formed by Blankenship to continue the search. While Triton was
building a new cofferdam they discovered the remains of what appeared to
be the original builders' cofferdam. The findings included several logs
2 feet thick and up to 65 feet long. They were marked every four feet with
Roman numerals carved in them and some contained wooden pins or nails.
The wood has been carbon dated to 250 years ago.

The western end of the island has also revealed several items. Two wooden
structures, along with wrought-iron nails and metal straps were found at
the western beach. Nine feet below the beach a pair of leather shoes were
unearthed.

Borehole 10-X

The next major discoveries came in 1976 when Triton dug what is known as Borehole 10-X, a 237 foot tube of
steel sunk 180 feet northeast of the Money Pit. During the digging several
apparently artificial cavities were found down to 230 feet.

A camera lowered down
to a bedrock cavity at 230 feet returned some amazing images. At first a severed
hand could be seen floating in the water. Later three chests (of the treasure
type I would presume) and various tools could be made out. Finally a human
body was detected.

After seeing the images, the decision was made to send divers down for
a look. Several attempts were made but strong current and poor visibility made it impossible to see anything. Soon after the hole itself collapsed and has not been reopened.

Here are drawings of the stones with mysterious inscriptions that have
been found on Oak Island.

Stone with Inscriptions found at 90 feet in The Money
Pit

This is a facsimile drawing of the larger stone which was found at
the 90 foot level in the Money Pit. Unfortunately the stone itself has
since disappeared. The markings were recorded and translated by a Halifax
University language professor around 1866. You can see his translation below, but some people are
skeptical of it as well as the recorded markings. At the time, the translation was being used to help raise money for further
searches.

Stone Fragment with Inscriptions found at Smith's Cove

This is a sketch of the stone fragment found under the Smith's Cove
beach in 1936. The inscription appears to be genuine and the markings do correspond
to those on the original stone.

Stone Found under Smith's Cove beach by Bob Restall

Bob Restall thought it was genuine, from the original builders. Others
claim it's a hoax left by previous searchers.

This translation makes a lot of sense. It turns out to be a simple substitution
cipher where each unique symbol corresponds to a unique letter in the alphabet.
The key to deciphering the inscription is:

Key to Translation

using this key, the words on the stone become evident:

The translation for the given inscription works and seems very unlikely
to be a simple coincidence. The way I see it, there are two possibilities.

First possibility: The inscription recorded by the professor
was a hoax used to encourage further investment in the search. This is
certainly a possibility and could only be disproved by the re-discovery
of the original stone or possibly the discovery of a new one. If this inscription
is a hoax, the crossed out F in forty is certainly a very nice touch.

Second possibility: The professor made an accurate recording
of the original stone. If this is true, we gain several pieces of information
about the builders,

since feet are used in measurement we can track down who would and
wouldn't use them

the translation is in English - unless builders were being very clever
(they certainly had this trait), they were probably from an English speaking
country

the stone was found at 90 feet which means the treasure would be at
130 feet (Note: in 1866 the Money Pit had already collapsed 15 feet,
but the cement vault between 150 and 160 feet had not been drilled yet.
The putty above the vault started at 130 feet.)

We can now apply the inscription key to the stone fragment found at
Smith's Cove:

Note that there are two possible translations for each line because
we have no indication of which side should be considered the top of the
stone. This is also true of the larger stone. It is possible the when flipped
upside down that there is another plausible translation.

Unfortunately there is probably not enough of this stone to provide
much information.

Below you'll find brief summaries of many of the theories about who
built the Money Pit and why. We'll delve into the details and possibilities
in the first several issues of Enigma.

Theories - Who constructed the puzzle on Oak Island?

Captain William Kidd - the notorious privateer. Legends abound
about secret caches of treasure buried by Kidd and his crew. Periodically
maps have popped up alleged to be Kidd's showing the location of his treasures.
There are many tales of old men on their death beds claiming to have been
part of Kidd's crews and having knowledge of hidden wealth. Some of these
stories point toward Oak Island.

Francis Bacon - there is a raging debate regarding the possibility
that Shakespeare's play were not written by him. Some claim that Shakespeare
was not educated enough to write his plays and they must have been written
by someone else. Some people believe this someone else is Francis Bacon.
Since no original manuscripts of Shakespeare have ever been found, the
theory goes that Bacon has buried them somewhere to be found some time
at some time in the future. This is a fascinating subject by itself that
we'll explore under its own topic in the future.

The French - some theorize that the French may have buried money
on the island as a safeguard against loss during the many battles with
the English over the colonization of the Americas.

The Vikings - there is some record of Viking visitation to the
Americas. Though no one knows what would have been so important to hide
that such a complicated hiding place was needed, they have been offered
as possible builders.

Bands of pirates - Oak Island acted as a communal bank
for pirates. Each group would dig tunnels off the Money Pit shaft and bury
their treasure. To retrieve it they could dig down through untouched dirt
to get their cache.

Stranded Spanish Galleon - it's possible that a Spanish
Galleon returning with gold and jewels from Central or South America could
have been forced off course. Badly damaged, then stopped at Oak Island,
hid the treasure while repairing the ship, and limped home with plans to
return later with a more sea-worthy ship to retrieve their cargo.

British during American revolution - similar to the French
theory. The idea is that the British hid money on the island to prevent
it from falling into the hands of the revolutionaries.

Inca or Maya treasure - during the conquering
of the Americas by the Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries, much of
the wealth of the Incas and Mayas disappeared. Usually rumored to have
been buried or sunken at the bottom of lakes, some researchers believe
that it's possible that a group of Incas or Mayas, possible with the help
of sympathetic Europeans, stole away with the wealth and buried on Oak
Island out of the reach of the conquerors.